Embrace
by Tolemac102
Summary: Lin and Tenzin's relationship starts one cloudless night when she comes to him with the heartbreaking news of her mother's death. Lin Bei Fong/Tenzin.


**Author's Note: Here's a short piece on Lin and Tenzin that I absolutely _had_ to write after watching the sixth episode. It's my take on how their relationship started. Sort of.  
**

Embrace

A Legend of Korra fanfiction

It was night on Airbender Island, near midnight, when Tenzin finally set down his book. The moon watched over Yue Bay, and he looked at it, somehow too tired to fall asleep. The book method hadn't worked, and now he had nothing to read. He sighed, a sound both thoughtful and melancholy, and thought again that the book's heroine shouldn't have thrown herself into a volcano, just for love.

_Oh, really_, asked a voice at the back of his head that sounded strangely like his sister Kya. _What wouldn't you do for love?_ He scowled, dismissing it as an over-imaginative idea of his sleep-deprived mind, and blew out the candle with a flick of his finger. The night air was cool against his face, now pressed to the windowsill. He stared over the ocean, to the tall metal building, the Bei Fong Metalbending Academy.

He thought of Lin Bei Fong, his childhood friend; who was now a star student at the head of her class. He thought of her hair, dark black, silky soft against his cheek when the wind blew it loose. Wait, what? He swore under his breath, wondering when he had started to see Lin like this, trying to stop the thoughts that were crowding his mind.

Preoccupied, he didn't notice the dark shape in his window until metal-toed boots hit him in the chest. He fell backward, arms windmilling as he fought to regain his balance. It was a battle lost as he tripped over his wastebasket and tumbled into his closet, the door banging violently shut after him. For a moment he was dazed. Then his fear of dark found him again, creeping up from that compartment in his mind he was sure he'd locked. Obviously, he had not. He was suppressing thoughts of monsters raking away his bending with thorn-sharp claws that passed through his skin and pulled his bending power away in a glowing white ball when the door swung open, admitting a weak shaft of moonlight and a slim hand glowing white in the gloom.

He reached out tentatively, his hand touching the other, which grasped his in a steady hold. There was a mutter, possibly a curse, from a voice he knew well, and he was yanked forcefully out of the closet, smacking into the woman of his thoughts. Literally.

Lin Bei Fong stood silhouetted in his window, the moonlight turning her hair to silver, falling along the curve of her back in a long wave that reaches her hips. He steadied himself, and nodded to her, his face breaking into a smile. "Lin! Wh-"

He was stopped as she clutched him, dragging him into an embrace. He stood there, mildly surprised, but not worried, because that was what Lin did; come up out of nowhere to shock you out of your wits. He pressed his head into the crook of her shoulder, her head nestling into his chest. His mind functioned enough for him to awkwardly wrap his arm around her and for him to realize that even Lin wasn't that spontaneous, usually. Then he felt something soaking into his shirt. He tipped his head down to look, and felt a seed of worry gnawing at his insides, gnawing at his heart.

Lin, who never _ever_ cried, was crying. The tears traced silvery trails down her face, dripping down her chin onto his shirt. Her chest fluttered, the only sign of distress; otherwise, she was silent. He pressed his mouth to her ear, simply because talking aloud seemed inappropriate just then. "What's wrong?"

She drew back, swiping her hand against her eyes as she turned her head to meet her eyes to his. They were steel-hard, not at all puffy or red, as he expected most people's eyes to be after crying. But then again, Lin wasn't most people. Her voice was harder than her gaze, and there was a touch of bitterness there he didn't remember hearing before. "My mother is dead."

Tenzin started crying himself, his shoulders shaking with sorrow as he remembered the strong, brave woman who had been his father's– and his –great friend. Lin turned her head toward the window, then apologized curtly for ruining his shirt. She wiped her eyes again, as Tenzin pretended not to notice.

She took a deep breath. "Tenzin, I came to say goodbye." The protest was half out of his mouth; she pressed her index finger to his lips to silence him. "I'm going after him. I probably won't be back." she didn't have to say who; both teens knew she was speaking of her mother's killer. "This is goodbye."

She embraced him again, so swift he almost missed it, and turns, about to leap out the open window. Her metal wires were already half extended when he caught her wrist. "Lin-" he faltered, but she didn't move. He steeled his nerve, trying not to imagine the _very large _amount of trouble he would be in when he got back- if he got back. "You'll need someone to watch your back."

She looked surprised. Tenzin was as well, having never expected to be able to offer, though he would have in a heartbeat. But then she smiled at him, a genuine smile that lit up her face, as much as it could be lit up then, and he was certain it was the right thing to do. Lin took his hand in hers."Thank you, Tenzin," she said. On the spur of the moment, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. Then she told him to pack, that they were leaving at dawn, and for him to not be late or else.

He nodded, still speechless. She released his hand and jumped out the window; moments later, he saw a dark silhouette leap across the ferry wires that linked the island to the city. He pressed his hand to his cheek gingerly, and wondered how he would possibly fall asleep.

**Author's Note: Please review. Somewhere around a thousand people have read my fics, but only a few have reviewed. Much thanks to Bralt, C.T. Moon, and Sarcastic Half-Blood!**

**To all you people who just read this fic, think I'm annoying, and are about to leave this page: You just spent five minutes reading this, surely you can spend a further thirty seconds reviewing it. **

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